She Loves You – Now Toronto

Now Toronto
By DYLAN YOUNG
3/5
Greg Dulli’s curse is that back in 93 he was responsible for one of the top 10 albums of the decade and a sure contender for the top 100 pop albums of all time. On the Afghan Whigs’ Gentlemen, his Catholic guilt and debonair shit-talking fused into the perfect soul music confessional, establishing him as the true heir to Otis Redding’s Mr. Pitiful. With his strange brew of disturbingly exposed male emotion and apologetically selfish malice, Dulli became alt-rock’s one and only soul man. Ever since, he’s been struggling to get people to understand him in that R&B context. She Loves You hugs the soul tradition, laying down an album of standards both new and vintage. His versions of Björk’s Hyperballad and Billy Holiday’s Strange Fruit are quintessential Dulli.